Australia’s biggest Christmas Festival brings the North Pole

Australia’s biggest Christmas Festival brings the North Pole

Santa and his helpers will bring much more than a sleigh load of Christmas fun and excitement to Rosehill Gardens Racecourse this December 7-27 when they touch down for Australia’s biggest Christmas festival – The Sydney Santa Spectacular.

The three-week festive extravaganza will deliver the city’s coolest silly-season fun – complete with one of Australia’s largest portable ice skating rinks, imported direct from Italy for a snowy sampling of European Winter in Sydney’s scorching summer heat.

Now in its third year, Sydney Santa Spectacular also features Australia’s only double-decker carousel – a vintage beauty of 10,000 moving pieces that has been painstakingly hand-restored to take pride of place alongside show-ride favourites including the Cha, Wave Swinger, Red Baron Flyer, Circus Train, Teacups, Sea Circus Fun House and Australia’s biggest inflatable world.

Also on offer will be unlimited rides, a toboggan slide, live stage entertainment, a glittering Santa’s Enchanted Forest with live snowfall, Christmas cookie-decorating workshops, reindeer ride-on training stables, interactive costume characters, fairy reading-times, live caroling, face-painting, special Santa meet-and-greets and much more.

With a strong emphasis on value-for-money for families, event organisers have created a flat-priced golden entry ticket ($41),which entitles all festivalgoers to unlimited rides, activities, entertainment and free parking over a three-hour session.

“We are Christmas-obsessed and wanted to bring an international-scale Christmas festival to Australia, but we were also very conscious of making sure the experience remained affordable for all families. We have five kids, so we know how expensive it can be to take a big family to a special event – especially at a pricey time like Christmas – and nobody should have to miss out,” said Jade Evans, Co-founder/Owner of Sydney Santa Spectacular, whoorganises the event alongside her husband Josh, five kids and a team of tight-knit family and friends.

“All rides and parking are included in our tickets – which are awesome value – and while we do sell food and drinks at the event, families can also opt to BYO to make it even more affordable.”

The spirit of giving is also an integral part of the Sydney Santas Spectacular, adds Evans, noting that her favourite event element is a towering 15 metre charity Christmas tree, under which attendees are encouraged to place gifts for sick kids.

Over the past two years, the Sydney Santa Spectacular team has hand-delivered around 2,000 presents from the giving tree to the Sydney Children’s Hospital and Westmead Children’s Hospital, and Evans hopes to push that number even higher in 2017.

“Being able to play Mr & Mrs Claus loading up the Team Santa van and delivering the gifts to the sick kids is the highlight of the event for our team and family,” said Evans.

“A few years ago, our son was critically injured and spent months in hospital being cared for and rehabilitated, so it’s nice to now be able to give back and bring some joy to families that are going through difficult times. We know just how it feels and it’s the little things, especially at times like Christmas, that make all the difference,” she explained.

Not just a winter wonderland for the little ones, the Sydney Santa Spectacular also offers up festive fare for adults and parents, with a Naughty Elves Wine and Cheese Bar providing the perfect pre-skate watering hole for some axels and bunny hops on the ice.

And for the ultimate sugar rush – the event is home to Australia’s only fairy-floss encased soft serve ice cream – heaven sent direct from Mrs Claus’ North Pole kitchen.

Across the two years, the Sydney Santa Spectacular has welcomed close to 100,000 people, with Christmas-lovers of all ages flocking from across the country for a North Pole experience like no other.